


Old Dogs and New Tricks

by Zippit



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Banter, Gen, Snark, implied Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanoff - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 21:43:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6724702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zippit/pseuds/Zippit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natasha should know better than to think she can hide anything from Tony Stark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Old Dogs and New Tricks

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Skin in the Game](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6490135) by [Sholio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sholio/pseuds/Sholio). 



> This was my first remix and was such fun to write!
> 
> It was written for the MCU Rolling Remix and I ended up being on Team SSR. The complete list of who remixed and the original starter story can be found [here](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/MCURollingRemix2016/profile#faq) in the MCU Rolling Remix FAQ.
> 
> I remixed Sholio's [Skin in the Game](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6490135) and my fic was remixed by Neverever into [Tenuous Connections](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/MCURollingRemix2016/works/6855184).
> 
> Please check out the other awesome fics in this collection.

"Tony calls you 'itty bitty spider,'" Steve says over the spatter of gunfire aimed in their direction. They're on opposite sides of the room tucked behind disparate pieces of cover. Natasha pops up from behind her artfully staged tumble of filing cabinets and overturned tables to return fire.

"Why am I not surprised," Natasha says drily. "You thought I needed to know this why?" She empties the clips in both guns. The click of the magazines releasing is loud in the brief pause of silence. The thunk as they hit the floor is muted and felt more than heard. She ducks back down to reload as the HYDRA soldiers return fire. Steve's picked up a sub-machine gun from somewhere and its noise churns the air with metallic pings and rattles.

They're not exactly trapped but they are waiting for extraction. Barton should be clearing out the incoming reinforcements. This wasn't a mission they'd brought the whole team in for. It hadn't been necessary. Which meant she'd traded Stark tech comms for something just as high end but without the possibility of Tony hacking in and tracking them down.

Silence breaks through the gunfire and Steve calls out, "Just thought you should know."

She rolls her eyes at him and peeks around the bottom of the debris pile. It's gone too quiet. Both sides are running low on ammo but this prolonged silence implies more than just a simple scrabble for additional ammo. She tenses at the thunk-clunk of a heavy suited something coming down the hallway toward them. She has one guess as to who it is. She shakes her head and holsters her guns then stands up to lean against the most stable part of her cover. She catches Steve's alarmed look from the corner of her eye before he quickly walks over to join her but with his shield held up in front of them both. An abundance of caution but that's Steve when it comes to anyone but himself.

Barton's voice comes over the comms, "Sorry, Tasha, he was in before I realized what was going on." The 'while I was in the middle of something' goes unsaid.

"Aww, Legolas, you mean you didn't appreciate my help?" The red and gold suit comes to a halt in the doorway as the face plate flips up. "Seriously, itty bitty spider, did you think I wouldn't be able to hack those second rate comms? They may be considered first rate against everything else, but I'm a genuis." He gives a shrug.

She can feel Steve's grin without even looking at him and the air shift as he stows the shield on his back. "I was under the mistaken illusion that you might have more pressing business than snooping on us, Tony."

"Aww, I'm touched." Tony waves a hand at their surroundings. "But this? The whole galavanting around the world to stop the bad guys? That's my main business concern. As well as making sure those pretty asses of yours make it back in one piece. So why are we here?" He glances around the room that formerly held an open office plan.

Cubicle partitions lay toppled on top of desks or against each other while other areas they're in shattered pieces. Dirt's smeared across the standard fine fiber, no cushion carpet, with pot pieces strewn everywhere like decorate marbles. The smell of gunfire and blood lingers in the air. It's not a nice scene. Natasha thunks her head into Steve's shoulder and sighs. His hand brushes lightly against hers. Leave it to Tony to barge in where he's not technically welcome.

She lifts her head at a slight noise and sees Barton easing through a window at the back to join them. She sends a mock glare his way. He holds up his hands in surrender. "Hey, don't blame me. You're the one that's been training him in the spy shenanigans."

"No showy entrance for Stark? Really?" Natasha looks back to Tony who shrugs. He's stepped out of the suit, leaving it a gaping shell in the doorway while he wanders around the room. No computers for him to work his magic on.

"Looks like you can teach an old dog new tricks," Steve says beside her.

"You're avoiding the question, Natasha."

"We're just simply chasing down HYDRA. Nothing more, nothing less." There had been the possibility of some intel on the Winter Soldier but that was a touchy subject for everyone. Natasha had kept that fact to herself and Clint.

"Looks like you did a pretty thorough job then."

Natasha is very glad there isn't a computer monitor there in the room with them. Tony would've probably managed to find the that one piece of information that might've been there and then he and Steve would be back to arguing. She was very tired of their arguing.

It'd always wind up circling around the same issue: how to bring Barnes in. Steve argued for that it was better for everyone involved if they brought him in. Tony wasn't so sure about that. Barnes was dangerous and he likely would have many things to answer for the world over. It...was complicated and when the emotions of two very opinionated men were involved things weren't going to end pretty.

A rumble goes through the building. Natasha and Clint exchange startled looks. "Okay, boys, let's get out of here. Somebody's set off some failsafe charges and this place is going to come down around our ears. Extraction point's outside the perimeter."

She and Clint are already moving toward the doorway. Tony's tucked back into his suit and lifting off to fly back down the hallway. Steve's fallen into place behind her. There was much that still needed to be found out and decided about James Buchanan Barnes. Natasha was of two minds about the whole thing. She knew Steve wouldn't stop looking and the easiest way to prevent him from accidentally getting himself killed was to go along. But that was for another day. Getting out of the building right now was her main concern.


End file.
